Sunday, 31 August 2014

One-Punch Man Chapters 1-37 review

One-Punch Man Chapters 1-37 Story
by One, Art by Yusuke Murata Review

From Viz Manga: “Nothing about
Saitama passes the eyeball test when it comes to superheroes, from his lifeless
expression to his bald head to his unimpressive physique. However, this
average-looking guy has a not-so-average problem—he just can’t seem to find an
opponent strong enough to take on! Every time a promising villain appears, he
beats the snot out of ’em with one punch! Can Saitama finally find an opponent
who can go toe-to-toe with him and give his life some meaning? Or is he doomed
to a life of superpowered boredom?”

As far as superhero parodies go,
One-Punch Man is well done. The artwork is well drawn and the comic is just
genuinely funny. One problem I have with the series is its portrayal of gay men though which is just downright offensive and
uncomfortable. The action scenes are slick though with the series doing some
interesting things with the comic medium.

Narrative wise there is little to
say, the characters are not terribly well developed, often being rather one
note, though this is a parody so I suppose that is to be expected. The series
follows a formulaic structure with each clash being more escalated than the
last. In conclusion, One-Punch Man is decent though flawed work. It has its
moments of brilliance though and manages to be entertaining, so make of that
what you will.